LACROSSE, Wis. – The regional mall Valley View, once a thriving retail hub, was sold at a sheriff’s auction for $13.2 million – less than half its taxable value. There was only one bid. Attorney Max Meckstroth placed the bid but declined to name his client. The sale took the mall off the hands of Wells Fargo Bank, the lender that held the lien and forced foreclosure. Excluded from the sale:
> The vacant Macy’s department store, an original anchor, which is for sale separately.
> The River Valley VA Community Clinic. in the former Herberger’s anchor store.
> The Hy-Vee grocery store, which is being built.
These outlying structure were not included:
> Dick’s Sporting Goods.
> Chuck E. Cheese party place.
Valley View profile
The mall is on 960 acres overloooking the LaCrosse River in suburban Onalaska. The mall opened in 1980 and once had more than 70 retailers. Of the original anchor stores, only JCPenney remains. Among the remaining stores, which lease space, is hope for the future — although the mall’s destiny will be in the hands of the purchase. By one measure, the bid was a bargain: The assessed valuation for tax purposes exceeds $27 million.
A comeuppance
Like many regional mega-malls, Valley View with its sprawling parking lots, siphoned shoppers from downtown. Some downtown stores relocated six miles out to the mall. Others closed. As a retail hub, downtown withered. But times changed. With the explosion of online commerce, mega-malls lost much of their customer base. A Valley View, one department store anchor after another went out of business. Macy’s, then Sears, then Herberger’s. Also undermining Valley View’s future were strip malls that cropped up in the neighborhood. The strip malls had parking aplenty but with much handier access. Shopping became less an all-day venture at a mega-mall than a series of focused quick ins and outs. The largest remaining Valley View stores are JCPenney, an original tenant, and Barnes & Noble, which built a giant bookstore in the mall’s later years.